Our barrels – the inside story

The subtle differences between Maker’s Mark® and Maker’s 46® can be found, literally, in our barrels. Maker’s Mark® requires its barrel maker to “season” or air-dry each wooden barrel stave outdoors for nine months, including the summer, before making the barrels. It is believed that this reduces the bitterness of the tannins in the wood and protects the flavor and character of our whisky. As for Maker’s 46®, we went through 125 experimental barrels before deciding to affix seared or slowly cooked French oak staves to the inside of a barrel of fully matured Maker’s Mark. As Maker’s 46 is aged longer, this process helps intensify the caramelized wood sugars.